i have been told that you can't work on finger speed. your fingers will always work at the same speed. so you have to work on technique. for me the best way is to, ironically, work on the part really slow so i can see how i'm moving, the goal is to make as little moment as possible. if i was playing as fast as i could i won't see where my unnecessary movements are. good luck

Yeah... Speed comes with practice and you can't practice fast unless you can play it slow.

A good example comes from the studio where we had a metal group. This wasn't the first time either, it just didn't occur to me then.

They had a blazing little lick. Most of it too fast to absorb, but it's what they wanted. Problem was, when they recorded it, they just couldn't get it right! The guitar player, after about 60 punch-in attempts says, "I don't understand it. Whenever we practice or play a gig, I play it perfectly!" Hmmmm.... So the question was posed, "How do you practice it?" "Well, I play it just as fast as it's supposed to be." The problem here is that it was never practiced properly in the first place. It was ALWAYS played wrong! Because it was practiced at speed, his finger memory was developed incorrectly too, so no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't play it the way he wrote it. And because his finger memory was wrong, correcting that was even more difficult than learning the lick in the first place, because he knew what he wanted to play, but his fingers already knew where they wanted to go.

Learn it slow, then speed it up. There's nothing more exasperating than learning it wrong and trying to correct it later.

Well, speed's first and foremost a byproduct of accuracy, so... Get accurate, I guess...

misconceptions with playing with speed -

that you'll be playing good music

speed definitely comes with practice. practice makes perfect!

but yeah, also some people maybe just arent coordinated to play the guitar. it might not be their thing.


=)

i agree with most people and there comments..Important to use a metronome and practice the lick slowly and then gradually increase the speed. Also count out the lick and find out if it's 16's or 8's.. Putting the lick or riffs in groupings also helps.. Do exercises like tremolo picking to build up right hand.. and trills to build up left hand..then try the lick your looking at doing. These are just some ideas off the top of my head but there are many more...
Hope this helps
Jester......

Agree too with all the advise given above and just wanna add to it is that,
For me i always separate my practices into a few sessions.
I mean i don't cramp all the things i wanna do in an hour or two.
If i'm practicing for speed,then i'll just practice speed picking for an hour and then do something else.
(eat,watch tv...etc) then after a few hours i'll practice playing some songs or go jamming.
The thing is, after you practice speed picking or sweep picking for an hour or two, your too tried to continue.
You need time to recover. As what you practice to is for tomorrow's result.
Just a tip.
Cheers!!

Well, I think it's important to really make sure that the articulation of each note is there, too... Y'know? Each one has meaning, even at mach 4...lol
Tone and vibrato are important, too. Knowing how to practice is such a big deal...

As much as Malmsteen gets ripped apart, I think he's got great control and articulation, as well as a really unique sound. Satch and Vai have their thing too. As does Paul Gilbert and Steve Morse, Eric Johnson and John Petrucci...

repetition and patience. Slow and easy. I make sure I have the lick I'm after down VERY slow and just build a little at a time. If I can talk to someone while still playing it slow, I move up a little.
One thing this guy didn't seem to touch on is the pick part of it. I'm not talking about hand movement here either..I mean the pick itself. The best teaching tool I've ever bought is a thing called a Stylus Pick made by Dunlop. You'd have to see one to understand how it works, but it teaches you to use the very tip of your pick for maximum efficiency with minimal energy. If you use it right it works like a dream. Use it wrong and it will stop you dead in your tracks. Go on Ebay and look them up. If you use anything as a training tool, I suggest this highly. It improved my picking technique in less than a week...I swear by it.

From Personal experience playing fast comes from playing slow and perfectly. The idea is to play over and over and over again until it clicks but withot mistakes. Also using heavy picks not thin ones is important

Really i take 2nd finger on eigth fret on the highest string. Then with the right hand i lock the hand and only move the pick with the thumb and pointing finger. (hard as hell). well, when i think i got control of it. I then lift the 2nd finger and put the 1st finger on the 2nd strings 7th fret, and then i switch between that.

2nd finger - 1st string - 8th fret
1st finger - 2nd string 7th fret
and i somtimes advance a bit by doing:
2nd finger - 1st string - 8th fret
1st finger - 2nd string 7th fret
2nd finger - 2nd string - 8th fret
3rd finger - 2nd string - 9th fret
1st finger - 2nd string - 7th fret
2nd finger - 1st string - 8th fret...

its great cuz somehow you also train overview of solos...

You can also try just send the string to hell with right hand, and just circle around simple chords with left hand
(if you're right handed)